Fall Ball

[WuDrWu]

Shocks had 30 hits. Only gave up 5 or 6 hits.

Tolle, Sam MacAleer, Seth Stroh X2 all went yard.

Jayden Gustafson was a homer away from the cycle (he started and was pulled early).

I thought we went about our business in a professional manner against an inferior club.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks had 30 hits. Only gave up 5 or 6 hits.

Tolle, Sam MacAleer, Seth Stroh X2 all went yard.

Jayden Gustafson was a homer away from the cycle (he started and was pulled early).

I thought we went about our business in a professional manner against an inferior club.

Not sure how valuable a game like this is although the coaches can always come away with a few bits of helpful information.

[Shockm]

Not sure how valuable a game like this is although the coaches can always come away with a few bits of helpful information.

I'm not sure either. However, I remember that Gene would play 80 games a year (almost everyday), many against every small college team in the state who would play before the NCAA placed limits on how many games teams could play. This allowed many of his pitchers to pitch, but he played his 8 position starters a lot against those teams. Playing one game out of season, probably doesn't have as much value, but as you stated, they may be able to glean a few bits of helpful information.

[WuDrWu]

I don't disagree with those assessments. I'm not sure we got better, but I think it helps them to learn about what they have and how people are going to go about their business. Plus it's always good to have a a balanced amount of confidence and humbleness.

Certainly last night one had opportunities to build some confidence.

I accept that I have a bias as a long term fan, and I suffer from the eternal off season optimism of so many fans. But I believe this team has more quality talent and depth with their position players than we've seen in more than a decade. Talent and depth are no guarantee of on the field success, but they are a good start.

Pitching is different and a question mark for sure. Nate Snead looked very, very good last night. Parker Dillhoff and Tim Arguello appear to be 2 freshman that can provide some help out of the pen. Ty Howry was exceptionally good last night (tempering enthusiasm because of the competition, but his velocity was high, control excellent and commanded the mound). Matt Wilkinson was sharp as the closer. Saw Tolle pitch at the end of the summer, so I'm good there, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings to see Bye throw a little and see Grant Adler pitch to know those guys are fresh and sharp and capable weekend guys.

Jaden Gustafson swings the bat with bad intentions and is really put together, especially for a freshman. He did have a serious snafu in left field that cost a run, at least. No error as he didn't touch the ball. Otherwise the team played clean, in fact making several good solid defensive plays. I think we had, at one point, Will Stark in left, Kyte McDonald in center and Seth Stroh in right and I'm telling you, those 3 cover a LOT of ground.....not much gets past, over or lands in front of those 3.

Jordan Rogers took a pitch in the back of the helmet but didn't seem worse for the wear. Scary moment though. It wasn't a glancing blow, it was square with an awful sounding thud.

Garrett Pennington continues to hit the baseball very, very hard. Dude is a monster at the plate.

[WuDrWu]

Shocks closed out their 3 game fall series against outside opponents with a lackluster 18-10 win over Pitt State. The entire game after the first 4 innings was kind of an exhibition of running through the motions. I am not reading anything into it. Just one of those games.

Garrett Pennington hit another home run and is hitting well over .500 in the fall (probably over .600 if you count intersquad). Dude is a monster. Kyte McDonald gets better every day. He hit a ball the umpire ruled foul that went about 450 feet and cleared 21st but his specialty is driving balls into the gap, hard. Freshman Jayden Gustafson continues to see a lot of time. Young man is not built like most of the other freshmen. He did struggle last night but he hits the ball very hard. Tolle took one the other way over the scoreboard. Way over the scoreboard.

[WuDrWu]

There will be some interesting yet tough questions to be asked in the spring.

1)Who plays short? Brock Rodden looks to be the best, but David Herring is no slouch. This is probably the softest of the questions as the 2 are basically interchangeable. One will be at short, the other 2nd.

2)Who plays 1st? The answer is probably Garrett Pennington because his bat has to be in the lineup. Freshman Charlie Rogan has shown promise and is a big, perfect target over there. If you choose to play Charlie, then Garrett moves to DH and what happens with Tolle? Because he has to play as well.

3)Sawyre Thornhill is the leader in the clubhouse at 3rd, but freshman Jarrett Flaggert is charging hard.

4)You've got some options behind the plate, but Mauricio Milan seems very professional back there. Probably your starter for now.

5)Biggest question (other than pitching obviously) is what you do in the outfield. Jayden Gustafson's emergence as an uber athletic, high upside talent has thrown another monkey in the wrench. Gustafson, Rogers, Stark, Stroh, Ingram & McDonald can all make a case to play. All bring a lot to the table and all have a question mark or 2. I could see Stark in LF, McDonald in center and Stroh in right and there aren't going to be many balls get past them. Those 3 can cover a ton of ground. But then Ingram goes to DH which puts Tolle out (when he pitches you might see this kind of lineup). Gustafson, Ingram and Stroh is a monster powerful lineup. This will be interesting all season and at a minimum, gives the staff a lot of options for the 1st time in years, if not decades.

This is a team that is going to field the ball, throw runners out, steals, takes the extra base and scores runs. Pitching will likely determine their fate.

And there are all kinds of questions on the bump.

[WuDrWu]

We did get see Grant Adler throw last night. Nothing wrong with that and I still anticipate you will see a lot of that young man next spring.

Tolle had a good summer and there's no reason to think he's not going to be a lot better in '23.

Cam Bye was good in '22 and hopefully better in '23.

Nate Snead is going to be very good. Caden Favors is a versatile and solid LHP. Clark Candiotti is going to be good, sooner than later. Grant Adler was an ace at Cowley and will definitely help. Jace Miner has high upside and wipeout stuff but lacks consistency. None of these guys are proven stars though, and to win where we want to win, you have to have at least 1 star.

Out of the pen, Cranz & Nate Adler are returners that should help. Wildcards in Rost (good breaking stuff), Arguello (freshman), Patrick Dunn (submariner transfer), Ty Howry (rapidly developing, big strong RS Freshman who looks 23 and throws mid 90s), Parker Dilhoff (crafty LH freshman) & Matt Wilkinson (looks like the leader for closer and has absolutely looked the part recently) could be boom or bust or anything in between.

Extra bonus wild card with Austin Henry.

Haven't seen Tristan Duke (freshman), Colton Vercoe (transfer but hear good things), Boyer (dinged up), Mulhollon (freshman) or Wallace (dinged up) enough or at all to speculate.

Fall World Series starts in 10 days or so.

[1972Shocker]

This is a team that is going to field the ball, throw runners out, steals, takes the extra base and scores runs. Pitching will likely determine their fate.

You can say that about most baseball teams without knowing much about them or even seeing them. Unfortunately, it has been awhile since the Shocks put together a quality staff with depth.

[WuDrWu]

True, but this team, if healthy, will be very good to elite offensively. They have too many tools in the bag to struggle for any length of time.

[1972Shocker]

[1972Shocker]

True, but this team, if healthy, will be very good to elite offensively. They have too many tools in the bag to struggle for any length of time.

I will withhold judgement until they have played some D-1 competition. Hard to judge how much their hitting looks because of skill vs weak competition. That said I hope your right. A high scoring team will probably draw the fans back to the ball park faster than a good pitching staff will. Bottom line is the need to start winning ball games any which way they can.

[shoxlax]

Is David Herring any relation to Neleigh? If so his athletic genes may be well above average.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Is David Herring any relation to Neleigh? If so his athletic genes may be well above average.

They are both from roughly the same area of OK, but not sure if they are related.

[1972Shocker]

Shocker Fall World Series Dates Announced

The Wichita State baseball team has announced the dates and first pitch times for the annual Shocker Fall World Series, scheduled for five games at Eck Stadium.

Friday, Oct. 14 - 7:00 pm
Saturday, Oct. 15 - 1:00 pm
Monday, Oct. 17 - 7:00 pm
Thursday, Oct. 20 - 3:00 pm
Saturday, Oct. 22 - 1:00pm

Admission to the games is a can of food or non-perishable food item to be donated to the Kansas Food Bank

[WuDrWu]

Sparse crowd on a perfect night (for most of the game) for Game 1.

7 inning games.

Yellow led off the game (the yellow team with more speed and pitching imho and the black with most of the power) with a Kyte McDonald hit (get used to that) then with one out Jordan Rogers hit a Grant Adler mistake into the left field bleachers for an early 2-0 lead. Black tried to rally in the bottom of the 1st with 2 hits of their own, but Brock Rodden was thrown out trying to steal (very close and I thought he made it) on a dynamite throw from Alex Birge and it killed a potential rally.

After that transfer Clark Candiotti was nails. He ended up going 5 and striking out 7 and was never really in trouble at all. He kept Garrett Pennington hitless for the first time I've seen in a game this fall (although Pennington hit a ball to 2nd that might have killed a casual player).

Grant Adler wasn't quite as sharp as Candiotti but he didn't give up anything else after the 1st inning dinger. He departed after 1 batter in the 4th I think. Parker Dillhoff struck out 3 around a walk and hbp. He's really tough on left handers but is going to have to learn how to be effective against righties. In the 5th Dilhoff walked a man, Howry came in and Rogers made a meal out of another 0-2 mistake and it was 4-0. Yellow showed their speed later in the inning when, with 1 out and runners at the corners, HCEW warned the corners to look out for the bunt. It didn't matter as freshman Jayden Gustafson laid down a beauty (and nearly beat it out) squeezing in the 5th run. Excellent execution.

Nate Adler was nails in the 6th for yellow, striking out at least 2 with mid 90s velocity. Very sharp.

Freshman Tristan Duke pitched the top of the 7th for black and nibbled too much. He did manage to get out of a mess of his own making. He was the only one that really caused a problem with walks because he pitched from behind too often. Somewhere yellow scored another run....just can't remember how.

Carter Rost who has struggled a bit this fall worked a quiet 7th for yellow and the final was 6-0. I think Black only had 3-4 hits.

General takeaways.

Clark Candiotti is going to be really tough if he can continue to show a 93-95 fb for a strike and get ahead of guys because he's got wipeout breaking stuff. Big league movement. And he battles. There's little doubt he's a rotation guy. Grant Adler is more blue collar, but again, bulldog mentality out there and good stuff. He certainly will help us in the rotation somewhere.

Nate Adler has improved, he has better stuff and is pitching better. The difference between 89-90 FB and now 92-94 FB is huge, especially when you're getting ahead and setting up your off speed stuff.

Jordan Rogers drove in 5 of the 6 runs scored last night. He has impressed if not also surprised for almost a year now.

Yellow's outfield of Jayden Gustafson in LF, Kyte McDonald in CF and Seth Stroh in RF is a problem. These 3 get to EVERYTHING. And I don't know what's going to happen with Jayden, but he's a specimen. He's a big, cut full grown man with skill. He's FAST and he can play. He's learning to hit but it goes a long way fast when he squares it up and he can hit pitches others can't get to. He's learning and he's raw, but man, there's a ton of upside there. I don't know who will play where, but there are choices in the OF. Stroh, Ingram, McDonald, Rogers, Stark, Gustafason....some really good players aren't going to be in the regular lineup.

A lot more swing and miss last night as compared to most of the fall, especially from Black. But I didn't feel like recent years where we weren't competing. CC was exceptionally good. A lot more "pitching" last night than just throwing that they've done during a lot of the fall games I've seen. Dilhoff is talented for a freshman. We do have a bunch of guys dinged up or hurt but we're also still 9 or 10 guys over the 35 limit for the spring roster.